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Sydney red gum

Angophora costata

Also called Rusty Gum, Smooth Bark Apple, Gum Myrtle, Smooth Bark Apple Gum, Smooth Barked Angophora, Smooth Barked Apple

Sydney red gum
Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Eug assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0

Angophora costata is a large eucalyptus-like tree native to eastern Australia, known for smooth pinkish to grey bark and white flowers. It is grown as a garden or street tree in warm, dry-summer climates and is not a typical houseplant.

Family
Myrtaceae (Myrtle family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water deeply when young and during dry spells; established trees need little supplementary water.
Soil
Well-drained sandy or sandstone-derived soil; tolerates poor soil.
Temperature
Tolerates about 0 to 35 °C; protect young plants from hard frost.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
New South Wales
Climate
subtropical

About

Angophora costata, commonly known as Sydney red gum, rusty gum or smooth-barked apple, is a species of tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. Reaching 30 m (100 ft) in height, the species has distinctive smooth bark that is pinkish or orange-brown when new and fades to grey with age. Its lance-shaped leaves are arranged in opposite pairs along the stems, with white or creamy white flowers appearing from October to December. The flower buds are usually arranged in groups of three, followed by ribbed, oval or bell-shaped fruit.

Where it grows

Angophora costata grows in sandy soil, often over sandstone and occurs naturally in Queensland and New South Wales. It is widely distributed in south-eastern Queensland and disjunctly in the White Mountains National Park. In New South Wales it mainly occurs in coastal areas south from Coffs Harbour to Narooma and as far west as the Blue Mountains.

Other Angophora plants

Rough Barked Angophora · Dwarf Apple · Smooth Barked Apple · Apple Gums

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Angophora costata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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